Conservative Groups Target McConnell in Kentucky Race

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Matt Bevin speaks during a news conference on Wednesday, July 24, 2013, in Frankfort, Ky.

There’s more bad news for Mitch McConnell.

On the same day Louisville investment adviser Matt Bevin announced a primary challenge of the top Senate Republican, a pair of influential conservative groups said they were open to spending money on Mr. McConnell’s defeat.

The Club for Growth and the Senate Conservatives Fund both issued statements Wednesday after Mr. Bevin officially launched his campaign to say they were open to backing Mr. McConnell’s opponent. Club for Growth President Chris Chocola said the group met with Mr. Bevin a few months ago and will follow the race “to hear more about his candidacy and the differences between him and Sen. McConnell.”

“We believe Republicans in Kentucky deserve a chance to elect a true conservative who will fight for their values,” Mr. Hoskins said before questioning whether Mr. McConnell gives Republicans the best shot at holding the Senate seat. “He’s unpopular in Kentucky and could lose the race and cost Senate Republicans the majority.”

The organization was founded by former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, a longtime McConnell antagonist who has since decamped to run the conservative Heritage Foundation. For years, Mr. DeMint has relished fights with his GOP colleagues.

Club for Growth and the Senate Conservatives Fund both have the potential to generate plenty of firepower against Mr. McConnell. The Club spent nearly $5 million against Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in last year’s Republican primary to help elevate Ted Cruz to the Lone Star State’s open Senate seat. The group also helped knock off longtime Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, only to see their candidate lose the general election.

The two groups issued their threats on a day when other tea-party groups in Kentucky threw their support behind Mr. Bevin.

The prospect of a fight with well-funded conservative groups presents Mr. McConnell with an unwelcome distraction, right as he gears up to face what many expect to be a well-funded Democratic opponent in Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. A bitter primary could drain money from Mr. McConnell and threaten to undercut his support among conservative activists.

These threats underscore Mr. McConnell’s delicate balancing act as Senate Republican leader. Groups on the right are questioning his conservative zeal at a time when Democrats are painting him as a right-wing nut who is singularly responsible for the gridlock in Washington. Every move he makes feeds into one of those two narratives.

With that in mind, there is still a chance that either group takes a pass on the race, since neither endorsed Mr. Bevin on Wednesday. It is possible that both groups issued the threats to prevent Mr. McConnell from cutting another deal with the White House in the fall to prevent a government shutdown or ensure Congress raises the country’s borrowing limit.

In fact, on Wednesday morning, the Club for Growth called on Mr. McConnell to sign a letter circulated by Utah Sen. Mike Lee promising not to fund the president’s new health-care law as part of any budget deal in the fall, as the two parties jockey ahead of another pair of looming deadlines to keep the government funded and raise the so-called debt ceiling.

“The Club’s [political action committee] will watch Kentucky’s Senate race – as it would with any race – over the coming months to determine if our involvement is warranted,” Mr. Chocola said, hours after he questioned Mr. McConnell’s commitment to defunding the new health-care law – a law the Senate minority leader devoted countless hours to defeating long before its enactment.

The bad blood runs much deeper with Mr. DeMint’s former group. Mr. McConnell had frequent dust-ups with the former South Carolina senator, and Mr. Hoskins, a former DeMint aide, suggested Wednesday that its decision to support Mr. Bevins rests more on the strength of his candidacy than anything the Senate minority leader could do to avoid it.

“We’re open to supporting Matt Bevin’s campaign, and we will be waiting to see if the grassroots in Kentucky unite behind him,” Mr. Hoskins said in his statement. “The only way to defeat Mitch McConnell is to inspire the grassroots to rise up and fight for their freedoms.”

He added, “If Mitch McConnell doesn’t respect the voters enough to defend his own record, he doesn’t deserve to be in the Senate.”

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